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Impact of Material Crystallization Characteristics on the Switching Behavior of the Phase Change Memory Cell

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Thomas Gille ,
Ludovic Goux ,
Judit Lisoni ,
Kristin De Meyer  and
Dirk J. Wouters
Thomas Gille
Affiliation:
thomas.gille@imec.be, IMEC, SPDT, Kapeldreef 75, Leuven, N/A, 3001, Belgium
Ludovic Goux
Affiliation:
Ludovic.Goux@imec.be, IMEC, Kapeldreef 75, Leuven, N/A, 3001, Belgium
Judit Lisoni
Affiliation:
Judit.Lisoni@imec.be, IMEC, Kapeldreef 75, Leuven, N/A, 3001, Belgium
Kristin De Meyer
Affiliation:
kristin.demeyer@imec.be, IMEC, Kapeldreef 75, Leuven, N/A, 3001, Belgium
Dirk J. Wouters
Affiliation:
dirk.wouters@imec.be, IMEC, Kapeldreef 75, Leuven, N/A, 3001, Belgium
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Abstract

The impact of material crystallization characteristics on the switching behavior of phase change memory cells has been investigated using finite element simulation. Both a conventional vertical cell and a horizontal line cell have been analyzed, using the widely used Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) which is a nucleation dominated material for the vertical cell, and Ag5.5In6.5Sb59Te29 (AIST) which is a growth dominated material for the horizontal cell. Nucleation and growth models were implemented for both materials. Both RESET and SET program cycles were simulated. From these simulations, it was shown that the crystallization models gave realistic results for switching voltages, currents and switching times for the two different cell types. It is found that for GST, both nucleation (at lower voltages) and growth (at higher voltages) can play an important role in the crystallization. However, for AIST, crystal growth from non-amorphized crystal regions dominated over nucleation for all program conditions. The high growth rate of AIST moreover is shown to allow much shorter SET times in the line cell compared to that of GST in the vertical cell.

Keywords

phase transformationmemorysimulation
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 918: Symposium H – Chalcogenide Alloys for Reconfigurable Electronics , 2006 , 0918-H06-02-G07-02
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2006

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